Yahtzee Croshaw (Zero Punctuation, Fully Ramblomatic)

I tend to buy games rarely and play them for a long time. I've 50 hours in KH 3, which is a pretty good dollar-per-hour of entertainment value (to say nothing of the hundreds of hours I've sunk into free games like TF 2 and LOL). Short games I usually just get on Steam sales and such unless they have a lot of replayability (as with the DMC series).

Between the old and the Special Editions I probably have a thousand hours in Skyrim. I also have a few hundred in Fallout 4 and a hundred plus in Fallout New Vegas.

Bethesda is almost always a good investment time/entertainment-wise.

I hardly play games at all nowadays, but back when I did, I usually got Indie games, which are typically more like $15 than $60. Assuming you don't wait for a Steam Sale or Humble Bundle.

Almost every game I buy is a great value in terms of hours to cost, either I'm getting a game that I'll play a lot at full price, or getting a cheaper game that won't last as long. Although since I missed out on a lot of the PSX and PS 2 era, getting those classics on PSN means that generally I can get long games for dirt cheap.

The problem is I have no time to play console games.

I play exclusively on PC, and I have gotten great value out of a lot of games. I once calculated the per-hour cost of my World of Warcraft subscription and it's a better entertainment value than anything else I've ever bought, except possibly the Civilization series.

One reason I don't often buy new AAA titles is that even 20-30 hours is a bad value proposition for 60 USD compared to what I play regularly.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 4th 2019 at 12:10:10 PM

Ironically, I wish that games were shorter so that they weren't such a big time investment. I guess that's why mobile gaming is so popular now.

It's gotten to the point I'm relieved when a game I'm looking forward to says it's more linear than open world. There is only so much time in the day, games industry.

Really depends on the genre, but I am grateful for a game I can actually finish in 30 hours or under and get a complete package.

The Division 2 (Zero Punctuation)

That opening gag where he pretends it's a sequel to The Devotion is brilliant. This is now one of my all-time favorite ZP reviews.

Also, I love that he calls out the "generic bad guys" that serve as the game's enemies. News flash: people don't form fanatical legions of disposable mooks for the benefit of the protagonists' righteous murder sprees without some motivation other than a general love of anarchy.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 10th 2019 at 2:26:43 PM

I started watching another video game reviewer (The Jean Baptiste Show) and it is weird seeing how much more positive he is about the games than ZP. For example, he gave a glowing review to Metro: Exodus, although he was a little more lukewarm about The Division 2. Overall, he praised it, but he did complain about the repetitiveness of the combat, which was one of Yahtzee's main complaints as well. He didn't mention the genericness of the "bad guys" at all.

Well, for some folks it doesn't matter whether the story is believable or the characters well-defined as long as they get to murder people, so...

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 11th 2019 at 6:45:03 AM

Pretty do pretty much just play the game for the loot.

I’ve heard the story is absolutely nothing special in every way possible but the gameplay is fun enough with good enough guns & gear.

Edited by slimcoder on Apr 11th 2019 at 3:56:23 AM

Yeah, but what is the point? What is the end goal, the objective you are trying to achieve? Is it just another endless microtransaction-fueled grind until the next game comes out and everyone gives up their investment for some shinier pixels?

If I'm going to play a shooter, I want to have some emotional investment in what's going on beyond "how big my epeen can get".

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 11th 2019 at 10:01:47 AM

Speaking of The Division 2, I wish Ubisoft Massive would make a new Real Time Tactics game similar to Ground Control or World in Conflict

I played a lot of Ground Control when I was younger. Even if I rather sucked at it, I was engrossed by the story. Sadly, both the expansion to first game and sequel ended on cliffhangers that are unresolved... 19 years later.

They just had to sell the license or IP or whatever, huh. And Rebellion Entertainment is doing absolutely nothing with Ground Control license!

How the hell did a studio, that perfected the skills with World In Conflict even if I never played it, started doing these looter shooter games? (yeah I raised this issue before on other threads but it's honestly so disappointing to me)

Edited by Dhiruxide on Apr 11th 2019 at 3:16:19 PM

Its pretty much just that.

There's no true purpose to it but getting guns that shoot bigger numbers & clearly there's sizable audience who only cares about that & gameplay considering its doing well I believe.

Prolly for reasons along the line of money.

Edited by slimcoder on Apr 11th 2019 at 9:52:23 AM

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (Zero Punctuation)

Wow, this must set a new record for a video game review using the titles of James Bond films to avoid having to say the title of the game he is blatantly not not comparing Sekiro to. Well done, Yahtzee. I'm sure there's an award for this feat.

As I will never play any of the Dark Souls games, nor indeed this game, I can stand aside completely unbiased and say that it sounds quite fun, if you're of the mindset that being a crash-test dummy is a fun way to play games. This has never been my personal mindset, so ... eh.

Also, I am not excited to try masturbating with a pasta claw. I hope my life never comes to that.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 17th 2019 at 12:48:35 PM

I can't wait for a year or two from now, when Yahtzee is saying Sekiro is the greatest thing ever and totally amazing, and only an idiot would not like it, without even acknowledging this review.

When has he ever said that about any game? Also, he didn't say he hated Sekiro, just that it didn't stroke him in quite the same way as Dark Souls.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 17th 2019 at 3:22:12 PM

Right. And the first time he tried Dark Souls, back when it was called Demon Souls, he panned it mercilessly and said that entire approach to difficulty was fundamentally wrong.

That is correct, and he acknowledged the fact when he reviewed Dark Souls 2, unless you and I watched different reviews.

There's also the fact that people change, as does their opinions.

Unheard and Outward (Zero Punctuation)

Here's what I get from this indie double bill review.

• Unheard: Like Return of the Obra-Dinn, but less engaging and voice acted by "an amateur dramatics class in a Los Angeles rehab center".
• Outward: RPG survival with a good start but little plot or sense of purpose. My new favorite metaphor is, "Traveling at night is about as advisable as bobbing for hair dryers."

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 25th 2019 at 10:56:45 AM